The San Francisco Pride Parade is the largest and most famous LGBT Pride event in the world. Every year hundreds of thousands crowd into downtown San Francisco to cheer as the rainbow colors fly over a mile of floats, marching bands, dancers, celebrities, and contingents and then a huge festival. People come from around the world to be at San Francisco Pride. Today’s festivities are more mainstream and more commercialized than in its edgy earlier days, but Pride still symbolizes freedom, dignity and liberation for LGBT people.

A group of former San Francisco Pride parade grand marshals that SF Pride calls its electoral college announced on April 26 that Pfc. Bradley Manning, the gay private who the United States military is currently prosecuting for disclosing information to WikiLeaks, had been selected as honorary grand marshal for this year’s LGBT Pride Celebration.

Freedom of the Press Foundation Publishes Leaked Audio of Bradley Manning’s Statement:

“Today, Freedom of the Press Foundation is publishing the full, previously unreleased audio recording of Private First Class Bradley Manning’s speech to the military court in Ft. Meade about his motivations for leaking over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks. In addition, we have published highlights from Manning’s statement to the court.

“While unofficial transcripts of this statement are available, this marks the first time the American public has heard the actual voice of Manning.”

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Leah Bolger, the National President of Veterans for Peace, about the case of Bradley Manning, conducted in January 2013.

"Bradley Manning has been in jail for close to three years now awaiting trial for basically blowing the whistle on war crimes, which was his sworn oath to do. I was in the military for 20 years and I know that when you witness a war crime you are supposed to report it and that is exactly what he did. He released a video tape that implicated the U.S. Up until recently he had not admitted to it but he has now.

"So he did so out of a crisis of conscience.

Today, at Ft. Meade, Bradley Manning accepted responsibility for providing selected information about US war crimes to Wikileaks, saying they "dehumanized individuals they were engaging” — after he had tried The New York Times, the Washington Post, and Politico with no response.

A statement Pfc. Bradley Manning read in court yesterday as part of his guilty pleas provided further evidence of how organizationally establishment US media organizations are incapable of responding to tips from whistleblowers. It also included much to ponder as President Barack Obama’s administration continues to maintain a war on whistleblowers, especially those whose work involves so-called national security.

by Elaine Spike Pasquini

“Free Bradley Manning! Free Bradley Manning!” chanted human rights supporters in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza this afternoon. For nearly 1,000 days, PFC Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old former intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army, has been incarcerated for allegedly passing classified documents to the whistleblower Web site, Wikileaks, including the video “Collateral Murder” showing the killing of 11 Iraqi civilians by U.S. attack helicopters. Among the dead were two working Reuters reporters. Two children were also severely wounded in the attack.

The rally drew a crowd of more than 100, including tourists in town for this evening’s Chinese New Year Parade. Speakers at today’s rally included Jeff Patterson of Courage to Resist, Rainey Reitman and Michael Thurman of the Bradley Manning Support Network, Art Persyko of the 99% Coalition, Mary Ann Thomas of World Can’t Wait and Denny Riley of Veterans for Peace, among others.

by Kevin Gosztola

For more than two and a half years, the military has been prosecuting Pfc. Bradley Manning for allegedly releasing classified information to WikiLeaks and this Saturday, February 23, he will have been imprisoned without trial for one thousand days.

The military judge in his court martial at Fort Meade ruled on January 8 that he was punished “unlawfully” during his nine months of confinement at the Quantico Marine Brig in Virginia. He was given a 112-day sentencing credit.

from the San Francisco chapter of World Can't Wait

No Trial, Torture, Solitary Confinement =
Is This the Price of Truth?
 
Whistle-blowing on War Crimes is NOT a Crime!
Free Bradley Manning now!

Calling all Bradley Manning supporters, justice activists, and people who refuse to accept the crimes of your government!

Bill Maher, host of Real Time on HBO, interviewed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange February 8, 2013, from the Ecuador Embassy in London.

Watch now: